


Heavy Lifting

by ImproperDancer



Series: D&D Original Characters - College AU [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: College AU, D&D, Dragonborn - Freeform, F/F, M/M, Swole Squad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 10:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17384966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImproperDancer/pseuds/ImproperDancer
Summary: Liz and Tibs are, as usual, hitting the gym before classes start. The usual post-workout chatter begins before Tibs notices something different about Liz and a Gay Panic ensues.





	Heavy Lifting

“You should be… more careful… Liz, you’ll pull… a muscle again… if you don’t… take it easy”

Tibs’ words punctuated the sharp sound of metal clanging against metal. His voice was soft and he had to wait between Liz’s lifts to have any chance in being heard. He stood above her as she lay on her back and although she was looking directly up at him she didn’t really see him or pay too much attention to the fact that he was even there.

“I am… Fine… Tibs” Liz grunted as she bench pressed the heavily weighted barbells, “You just… keep spotting… me”

She was pretty sure she saw the blue dragonborn roll his eyes but she didn’t care at that moment. She was in her zone and didn’t want to waste an ounce of energy. She’d slap Tibs across the head after she had finished, she decided.

It was early morning in the school gym. Including herself and Tibs there might have been four or five people in the gym and two of them were cleaners. Liz and Tibs always went to the gym before school started and would then meet again after school for another round of training. They weren’t the biggest dragonborn in the school for no reason.

“Last time” CLANG “You went this” CLANG “Hard, you” CLANG “Were out for” CLANG “A week” CLANG.

He was right, obviously. Tibs was generally the only thing keeping Liz from breaking herself in half with her somewhat over-zealous weight training. But she had to be the biggest and she had to be strongest. If it was risky to do so, then so be it as far as she was concerned.  
And besides, last time was different. She was much stronger than she was two months ago so he shouldn’t worry.

“OK… OK I finish” Liz panted as she shifted the weight, with Tibs’ help, onto their shelf on the bars and sat up on the bench.

She rested her arms on her thighs, slouching forward, trying to catch her breath.

“How many?” She asked, wiping her forehead with her small towel.

“Oh, was I supposed to be counting?”

Liz snapped her head to glare at Tibs, a sudden fury burning in her stomach as she felt her nostrils flare.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” He laughed, raising his hands in mock surrender as he grinned that stupid playful grin he always seemed to be perpetually wearing. “You got to 25 this time, pretty damn good”

Liz’s fury quickly seeped from her and her shoulders relaxed. One of these days she was actually going to kill Tibs but she’d have to wait until he stopped grinning.

“Good. Not best, but good” Liz mumbled the last part as she stood up and stretched out her back.

“It can’t be your best every time, Toothless” Tibs noted with a little melody in his voice, “If I don’t lift more than you at least once a month then there’s no fun in it”

“Toothless. You watch that movie again?” Liz said with exasperation as Tibs tried out yet another nickname. She had rebuffed the last hundred but every week he seemed to find a new one to call her.

“They’re great movies, Bud, you should give them a try at least” Tibs said as they both headed out towards the changing rooms.

Under normal circumstances Liz would have aggressively, or violently, reprimanded anyone who even considered calling her anything other than Liz. That was her name and she would not be called anything else. Tibs was an exception, it would appear. He wasn’t afraid of her and since day one he had proved himself to be a good friend to someone like Liz, so she allowed him to get away with this disrespect. 

She wasn’t exactly an outsider but she was a little aware that her stature and thick accent marked her out from the crowd somewhat. Tibs, the big blue oaf, couldn’t have cared less and latched onto Liz almost immediately as a friend and she hasn’t been able to shake him off since. Not that she tried, she had given up after the first week when he proved his frustratingly charming persistence.

“They are child movies, Tibs” Liz said flatly, her accent rendering most of her sentences flat 

“You should watch something not Disney”

“This is Dreamworks” Tibs corrected, “And I absolutely will not. They’re wonderful movies and you should watch them”

Liz just snorted and rolled her eyes. That reminded her.

She swatted the back of Tibs’ head with her hand, ruffling the plumage that sprouted out from his spine and head, landing a satisfying slap.

“Ah! Hey!” He yelped, belatedly trying to block her sudden attack “What was that for!?”

“You roll eyes at me before. I saw”

After a moment of looking at her incredulously Tibs melodramatically rolled his eyes, spending a generous several seconds doing so and even had the nerve to roll his head slightly to really emphasise the gesture.

“I will kill you, Tibs” Liz said to him, but she could feel a smirk betray her as the blue idiot defied her in his signature goofy manner.

“You won’t” he chirped, “You love me too much” and he grinned, like he always does.  
Liz just shook her head, partly to try get the smirk of her face. She had an image of intimidation to maintain and she wasn’t going to let this charming feathery asshole shatter that image. But nobody was around, so she didn't try too hard to get rid of the smirk.

***

Liz got dressed, pulling up her leggings and throwing on a tank top. As she slid on her varsity jacket she perked up as she heard Tibs tsk-ing from across the changing room where he was leaning, a little too casually, against the lockers. He was shaking his head slightly as he looked at Liz.

“What?” Liz demanded as she approached him, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Nothing, nothing” Tibs said in a disarming tone, walking alongside Liz as they left the changing rooms “I’m just forever jelly of your scales. Black looks so good sweaty or clean and doesn’t show up any dirt”

Liz shrugged but nodded in appreciation. She was very well aware of the practicality of having her deep ebony skin and scales. Tibs was right in that dirt almost never showed up and whether it was water from a shower or sweat from working out, black scales did look good when wet.

“Agree. Black scales better than blue”

“Hey now, woah” Tibs rang out in his branded dramatic and pained tone “I never said they were prettier than my scales. You cannot beat this kind of blue. I was just appreciating that black never goes out of fashion and that-“

He stopped mid-sentence causing Liz to look over to him quizzically as they walked out of the gym and out into the school grounds. He eyed her up and down and a big, stupid smirk spread across his face.

Oh, shit. Liz thought.

“Liz, my darling, my sweet hulking baby” Tibs practically sung as he spoke. Liz sped up but he kept pace with her. “Are you wearing a piece of actual jewelry?”

“No. I am not. Maybe I am. Fuck off, Tibs” Liz growled as the blue moron began to almost skip alongside her, his eyes lighting up like a child's at Christmas.

“Show me. Immediately”

“I will not” She snapped, glaring at him.

If ever there were a time she appreciated her black scales it was now because she could almost certainly feel herself flush and she knew she was blushing furiously.

“Liz Toothless Acidbreath”

“That is not my-“

“You show me what that necklace is right now” Tibs playfully demanded and he stopped in his stride and slapped his hands on Liz’s shoulder, dragging her to a halt after a few short, very determined, steps from Liz.

Liz stopped and closed her eyes. He wouldn’t stop. She knew he wouldn’t stop. He was insufferable and unstoppable when it came to this and ever since he found out about Sera he hadn’t once let Liz forget about it. She tugged out the end of the necklace that sat underneath her top and turned around to face Tibs, keeping her eyes shut the entire time lest they give away just how hard she was blushing.

“Oh. Well.” Tibs said a little surprised. “Well, that is very… um, that’s very ‘Sera’ I suppose”  
It was, by a very loose definition, certainly a necklace. It was a silver chain that had clearly been outdoors or in the rain for an extended period of time and at the end of it was an old Pepsi bottle cap, the chain going through a very crudely punched hole. If it was worn by anyone other than a dragonborn the rugged metal would have likely irritated the skin but as it were it didn’t bother Liz at all as it dinged somewhat musically against her scales as she walked.

Sera had given the necklace to Liz last week. Well, she had thrown it at Liz before running up into a tree. Not metaphorically, she literally climbed a tree and hid there after throwing the necklace at Liz, yelling that it was “sharp and hard and pretty like you” which was possibly the most poetic thing Liz had ever heard Sera say.

“You big gay mess” Tibs mocked as he tucked the necklace back under Liz’s top, “You are so heckin’ smitten with that girl”

“I am not smitten” Liz grunted, not knowing what that word meant but had a fair guess from the context, “It was a gift. I like it. I like her. Shut up”

Tibs was smirking from ear to ear, “I didn’t say anything”

“No, but your smile is very loud” Liz grumbled, turning around to head back towards the school.

“Get back here, Toothless” Tibs chimed as he jogged up beside her “If you don’t ask her out today I’m going to make you bench press me next time”

“I could. Easy” Liz replied confidently. She knew she could. She’d done it before.

“OK, not the point” Tibs sighed, opening the door for Liz, “The point is that this girl obviously likes you and you’re practically wearing a big rainbow flag that says you like her too”  
Liz didn’t respond. Tibs was right but she’d sooner die that let him know that.

“Ask her out. Today. At lunch” Tibs said, with more assertion than he normally ever spoke with.

“But I have wrestling after lunch. I will have to leave early to-“

“No, nope, nuh uh” Tibs shook his head, putting an arm around Liz’s waist as they walked through the school halls which had begun to slowly fill with some of the early arrivals of students that day, “You are going to ask that girl out or you can find someone else to spot you”

Liz audibly groaned and rubbed her face, Tibs jostling her slightly with his arm around her waist. They arrived at their lockers and Liz slumped forward, resting the crown of her horns against the metal wall as Tibs stood behind her, hugging her in a manner that was practically spooning standing up.

“Liz” He mumbled into her shoulder.

Liz grunted in response.

“Ask her out. For me. For your ole pal Thibaut Stormchaser. We can't both be gay and single in highschool, it's too cliché” Tibs chided in Liz’s ear, giving her waist a light squeeze.

Liz lifted her head and turned to look at him.

“If I say yes will you get off me?”

Tibs almost squealed and his eyes danced as he smiled a toothy grin, nodding his head excitedly.

Liz sighed deeply and with half a growl mumbled.

“Fine. I ask her out” Liz stated, turning around fully to face Tibs who looked like he was about to explode from glee “But you have to ask out the elf. What's name? Kol?”

Tibs’ smiled dropped and, unfortunately for him, his blue scales did not hide the very intense blushing that came across his face.

“Oh, fuck”

Liz smirked.


End file.
